During our hiatus I wanted to give you a look into who Rooftop Barbeque’s Sponsors are. This is the first of a series of Q&A sessions with the people behind some of the top BBQ products out there. First up is Jason from Green Mountain Grills.

Rooftop: What is your role in Green Mountain Grills?

Jason: My involvement will be in sales and marketing support and development. I want us to have more of a presence in the social media world and easier to find on the Internet as a whole and not to sell our product, but to inform folks more about pellet grilling and Green Mountain Grills. (GMG’s Twitter & Facebook)

Rooftop: Can you give some of the history of GMG, when and how did it get its start?

Jason: I watched my father for years cook on a pellet grill. Everyone was always amazed by the taste of the food. My father is an innovator and always made comments about how this grill he was grilling on could be so much better. He was in the import export business and had a strong comfort level with manufacturing for decades as well. These two loves merged in 2007 when he decided to build his first prototype. Today, you continue to see this innovative spirit in all of our products.

Rooftop: Can you explain how a pellet grill works?

Jason: First, a motor turns an auger which feeds pellets into a firebox.

Second, a hot rod automatically ignites the pellets, and a combustion fan keeps them burning.

Third, a Fan inside the hopper maintains positive pressure which prevents burn-back in the auger tube.

Finally, a sensor mounted inside the grill sends data to the on-board computer ten times every second, and the controller adjusts the air and pellet flow to maintain the temperature you set

Rooftop: What are the differences between GMGs and the competitors?

Jason: There are many on the technical side, including industry exclusive 150ºF-500ºF Temperature Range where you set your grill to any temperature in 5 degree increments with the touch of a button.

We have the Low Pellet Alarm so if you are running low on pellets in the hopper, an alarm will sound until you refill the hopper. A 13.5” Grill To Lid Clearance peaked lid allows you to cook a big Thanksgiving turkey or a stand-up chicken. Our Pellet Hopper Fan feature is on board to prevent burn back in your auger and assist in maintaining the temperature you choose. One of my favorite features for cold climates is the Ambient Air Sensor which assists you in all Temperatures and wind will never be an issue either.

Furthermore, We include the Digital Thermostatic Controller, the Fan Only Feature, Caster Wheels, 19 lb Hopper, Large Diameter Rear Wheels, Dome Thermometer on the Jim Bowie, Stainless Steel Built in Meat Probe, Stainless Steel Cooking Grates, and a Stainless Steel Lid Handle on all of our grills as standard equipment.

I would say that from a business model, we are entirely different. We want our local dealers to sell our products in their stores; period. We don’t want our products sold on the Internet and we don’t want to be in large box stores where help is difficult to find. We believe that this is a product that can’t just be handed to a consumer in a box. We want our local dealers to stand in front of our product and teach the customer about pellet grilling. That model has proven extremely successful for us and more importantly; our dealers.

Rooftop: What do you see in GMG’s near future, what new things can we expect see?

Jason: Green Mountain is continuing to innovate and I think the future of grilling is going to become more and more technologically advanced. Our focus on all of our products will be in this realm. We are constantly making sure we are listening to our customers and our dealers to continually improve our current products and indeed come out with new ones. We have a lot of revolutionary products in development and we are excited to bring them to market and start receiving feedback from our customers and our dealers.

Rooftop: Where would you like to see GMG in the distant future?

Jason: I believe the future of pellet grilling is very bright and I believe the future of Green Mountain Grills is tied to that belief. There are a whole heck of a lot folks out there who have no idea what a pellet grill even is and our goal is to continue to spread the word. If we all keep doing that, the future will be great for the pellet grilling market as a whole.

Rooftop: What’s your favorite thing to cook on the GMG, any favorite recipes?

Jason: I cook everything on my GMG from steaks and chicken to ribs, brisket, and tri tip. I have to say that I love my tri tip. I have a bourbon marinade that I have developed and perfected over the years and it is my go to when I am looking to raise some eye brows.

If you’re not busy this weekend, you should come out to Vegas! Rooftop BBQ competed last year in the first annual Vegas competition but this year is going to be quite different. The competition is just one part of the greater ACM weekend at the Mandalay Bay:

Besides the competition, there will be world champion vendors selling their famous barbecue and some of the brightest stars in country music will be performing on the Miller/Coors Stage all weekend. Also, there is the ACM Fan Jam (part of the 47th ACM Awards), ACM EXPO (outdoor living & country expo), rib eating championship, Jack Daniel’s Experience, and the Sin City Rib Throwdown.

And not only are we competing, we are also sharing a vending spot with our 2011 sponsor, Fruita Wood. We’ll be sampling our award winning BBQ sauce and our brand new products: our Competition Blend Rub and Jalapeno Peach Jam. Make sure to stop by our booth to try out our products—special discounts if you purchase all three!

If you can’t come out to this competition, we hope to see you in two weeks at our home town competition in Wildomar on April 7!

Last weekend we competed at the Santa Anita Winners Circle BBQ, held in the race track’s infield. We had a great crowd all day and many were able to sample and purchase our new product, the Rooftop BBQ Jalapeno Peach Jam! Let us know how you like it! In the coming weeks you’ll be able to purchase the jam and our new rub in our store. Until then, those who bought it at the track are some of the lucky ones!

Not only did we sell over 1,300 people’s choice tickets, but we also received a first place in ribs! It was the team’s first ever 1st place and we could not be more excited about it!

If you will be in Las Vegas at the ACM BBQ Throwdown at the end of this month, Rooftop BBQ will be competing at the Mandalay Bay on March 31 and selling our BBQ sauce, rub, and jam all three days (March 30–April 1). Come by and visit!

We’re really going at this year. Last year we competed in 6 competitions, this year were looking at 12. We’ve signed up and are competing for the California BBQ Association Team of the Year and will be going full throttle starting next week.

With all these competitions we’d love to see some of you at them come on by and get some BBQ, we always have some extra after turn.

We would like to formally introduce our newest sponsor Green Mountain Grills. This past August we came in contact with Green Mountain Grills and discussed a parntership with them, ever since then, we’ve been loving the GMGs.

It all started when we recently bought an enclosed trailer to work out of at our competitions and we were looking into getting some smokers that would easily fit in the enclosed trailer. After reviewing many smokers and looking for the perfect fit for our team, we came across Green Mountain Grills through Whiskey Bent BBQ. These smokers had lots of advantages over the traditional pellet smoker. With features like a variable fan, low pellet alarm and an optional remote. We knew these smokers would help us get the sleep and rest we needed to be on our game the next morning, along with producing top notch Q. So in late August we recieved our shipment from Green Mountian Grills with one Jim Bowie and one Daniel Boone and their great premium gold blend pellets.

We had one week to do a test run before our next competition the Smokin’ in Mesquite Compeition in Nevada. I have to say it was a hot day in my backyard for that test run and I was not wanting to be out there practicing in the sun, but when that food came off the smoker it was some of the best BBQ we’ve made, very moist and the perfect amount of smoke. The next weekend we loaded up the trailer and headed to Mesquite. What a world of difference it makes at a competition when you get a good nights sleep. It was by far the most relaxing cook I’ve ever had. During awards we placed 12th in chicken and 5th in ribs against some great teams, and this was only our second time cooking on the Green Mountain Grills. And then a few weeks later we took two walks with a 10th in pork and a 10th in ribs at the Dana Point Competition.

We dont have any comps for the rest of this year but will be practicing on the GMGs and be ready to compete again in Havasu in January.

We recently sent a bottle of our Chipotle Molasses Competition Style Sauce to Scott Roberts from Scottrobertsweb.com, asking him to review it. I have been following Scott’s reviews for a while now and love how detailed they are, including such things as aroma and bottle design. A couple weeks ago the review was published—I couldn’t be happier! He pointed out everything I strove to create the sauce to be.

Here are some of the comments:

“A rich and sweet coalescence of tomatoes, brown sugar, molasses and onions are what I’m able to detect immediately. There is a lot of complexity at play, thanks to the mustard, honey, garlic and vanilla. I only felt a moderate teasing of smokiness yet the heat from the chipotles was quite noticeable.”

“I decided to try this out on a batch of grilled chicken, applying a generous coating of Rooftop BBQ Sauce to each side. Dear Lord, this was bone suckin’ good! Even my two boys, who at times (as kids can be) are pickier and hard-to-please as all get out, loved this stuff! When a product gets rave reviews from both children and those who prefer bolder, spicier, more complex tastes like myself, you know a sauce maker has hit paydirt!”

I wanted to give everyone an update on our BBQ sauce. We now have it in Tom’s Farm in Corona Ca, and have had a great response so far. We are in talks to have it in 3 stores in orange county along with a few online retailers, If you have a store you would like it to be carried in please contact us and let us know. We recently had Greg Rempe from the bbq central radio show review our sauce you can find and download the episode here along with all of his other programs. Every tuesday at 6pm PST he hosts his show live at http://www.outdoorcookingchannel.com make sure to check it. If you haven’t had a chance to try our sauce yet please go to our store and get your bottle or come see us at our next competition. Keep checking back new products are always in the works.